Without You I Have No Life
by sailor silvimoon
Summary: Bonnie dropped the veil and Alaric is back. Back to Damon. Even for a day. Loving him more than his own life, and not able to say goodbye for the third time, Damon makes a decision. (DALARIC)


Title WITHOUT YOU I HAVE NO LIFE  
>Type One-shot<br>Pairing Damon/Alaric  
>Genre Romance, Angst<br>Rating M  
>Chapters 11  
>Status Complete<p>

Summary Bonnie dropped the veil and Alaric is back. Back to Damon. Even for a day. Loving him more than his own life, and not able to say goodbye for the third time, Damon makes a decision. (DALARIC)

DISCLAIMER Don't own it

WARNING 1 SLASH

WARNING 2 MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH

**AN/** I needed a good cry. So, please, don't kill me for this little one-shot. And, your reviews would put a smile on my face. *pleading puppy look*

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><p>When he sees Alaric after months of mourning, and drinking himself into an oblivion, he can't help but think it is a joke. A cruel joke. A figment of his imagination. Or Silas, taking the form of his best friend, his lover.<p>

When he hears his voice, his heart skips a few beats, because it is the sound he missed the most. His breath is caught in his throat, and all he can do is look at the man he loves. The man he will love forever.

His eyes are filled with tears, his body is shaking from the overwhelming emotions running through him ...

Suddenly, Alaric pulls the stake out of his body and lifts him up.

''Don't tell me that the great Damon Salvatore is rendered speechless.'' Alaric jokes.

''Ric?'' Damon finally splutters, too afraid to hope, but at the same time, too afraid not to hope.

Because...what if...

''It's me, love.'' Ric says, and gives him that smile he missed.

The smile that sends his heart beating faster than ever before. The smile that finally pushes the tears down. No, he can't force himself to believe. It has to be Silas. Tormenting him.

Alaric seems to know what goes through his mind and he walks away. Damon watches him, his heart in shatters, when suddenly, Alaric stops at one locker and opens it. Soon, in his hand is a bottle of Bourbon. Half full, half empty. Their drink. Their bottle.

''Would Silas know about locker 42?'' Alaric asks with that smile that mends his heart.

Because it's really him.

Damon smiles, for the first time in months, and runs toward the man his heart chose. The love of his immortal life. Their lips meet in a familiar kiss. Damon's heart slowly starts to mend.

Damon can't stop with the touches, he needs to feel him. Needs to confirm his love is really there. Alaric doesn't mind.

Because, Alaric knows. Knows what the blue-eyed vampire feels, why he needs to reassure himself that he is really there. He watched over him since the day he died.

/

When everything is over, Silas in stone and deep in the Atlantic, where no one will ever find him, Alaric says his goodbye to Elena and Jeremy. Again. He feels Damon waiting impatiently, but not saying a word, and can't help but feel proud.

Bonnie and Stefan arrive and he says his goodbye to them as well. Bonnie leaves first. Alaric notices that Damon follows. Hears the broken plead. Like Stefan, like Elena.

And it breaks their hearts.

/

''Please. Let him live.'' Damon begs. _'Let him live with me.'_ He thinks.

''I'm sorry, Damon. I don't have that kind of power. He is dead. I can't bring him back. You have time until morning.'' Bonnie tells him, and he nods.

Damon can't take the 'I'm sorry' look the witch gives him, and he leaves. Saying goodbye to Ric for the third time. That is what awaits him. He stands in front of Ric's loft, one hand in the air, ready to knock, when the door opens. Being a vampire and a ghost, Alaric is fast. He was already in his loft, waiting for Damon.

''Come in.'' Ric says, and pulls him into his arms.

They don't need words. Their hearts say everything that matters. In each other arms, they both feel safe. And loved. Somehow, they end up in Alaric's bed. The kiss is never broken. Now that Alaric is a vampire, well, a vampire and a ghost, he doesn't need to breathe. Their last lovemaking is a slow burn. The knowledge where to touch, where to kiss, to make themselves shutter is imprinted in their minds, on their fingers, on their lips.

They don't want to think about what awaits them when the sun comes up, but it's there, all around them.

The reality.

They don't sleep that night. The loft is filled with soft moans. They kiss the most, hold each other in a tight embrace, both afraid to move, even for a short moment.

Because, the morning approaches fast, and one night is not nearly enough.

''Live.'' Alaric says only one word, but it's enough for Damon to understand.

''Without you I have no life.'' Damon answers, and watches as his love disappears in to thin air, and the tears fall down his cheeks.

/

No, he can't take it. His heart is broken. This time completely. There is no way he could live for another, it doesn't matter how many years, months, days, hours, minutes... He takes the chain that is around his neck off. The chain with Alaric's ring. He looks at it, takes his own ring off his finger, puts it on the chain next to Alaric's, then finally, grabs a stake.

He doesn't feel a thing.

Damon knows he has to say something to his brother, before... He appears in front of the young Gilbert, who, after realizing he is a ghost, strangely has tears in his eyes.

''Tell my brother I'm sorry. For everything.'' Damon says.

''Why?'' Jeremy asks.

Damon knows what he means. Suddenly Ric is standing beside him and he smiles.

''Because I love him.'' Damon answers and takes Ric's hand in his own.

It is an answer good enough, and Jeremy nods. He knows how it feels to live without someone you love.

Never again will they be separated. Never again will he let him go.

/

When Jeremy arrives to the Boarding House, everyone is there. Even Bonnie, now as a ghost herself, but no one seems to realize that. Elena is human again. Bonnie nods, knowing what he is about to say. Strangely, she has tears in her eyes.

''Stefan.'' Jeremy chokes, and the vampire looks at him then frowns seeing the tears.

''What's wrong, Jeremy?'' Stefan asks, and now everyone has their eyes on them.

''I'm sorry. It's...'' Jeremy doesn't know how to break the news, but Stefan suddenly seems to know.

''No.'' He breathes. ''Tell me it's not what I think it is?''

''He came to me about ten minutes ago. Told me to tell you he is sorry. For everything.'' Jeremy finally says.

''No.'' Stefan shakes his head. ''He can't be dead. He can't.''

''Stefan? Jeremy? What is going on?'' Caroline and Elena ask, but it is Jeremy who answers.

''If it is a consolation enough, Damon is happy. He is with Alaric now.''

/

Stefan, Elena, Jeremy, Caroline and Bonnie are standing in the Salvatore graveyard, wearing black, tears clouding their vision. Stefan watches as two coffins are lowered to the ground. He knows Damon would've wanted it. He dug up Alaric's coffin the night before and brought it here to be alongside Damon's in their final resting place. When dirt starts covering the lid, he breaks down and drops on to his knees, and cries as he never cried before. Elena kneels beside him, pulls him into her embrace, but Stefan feels nothing.

Nothing but loss and pain. His brother is dead. Never again would he see those piercing blue eyes, sparkling with mischief. Never again see that smirk on his lips. Never again hear his voice.

Never again. Never again.

No one notices a lone figure dressed in an expensive black tailor-made suit, behind a tree, less alone the tears on his face. He mourns the loss of a vampire he started to love. A vampire who never knew about his feelings, and never will. He mourns in silence, gripping the tree with his fingers, bites his tongue to prevent a cry of his broken heart coming out.

When the group leaves, he walks toward the fresh grave and puts one red rose on the ground. His eyes fill with more tears as he reads what's engraved on the gravestone.

_Here lie two men who loved each other more than anything, more than their own lives. Two broken souls who found each other, despite everything and anyone. Their love will live forever. And they will never be forgotten._

_ALARIC SALTZMAN and DAMON SALVATORE_

_May your souls rest in peace_

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><p><strong>AN** If you've cried like I did while I wrote it, read it, and re-read it, my mission is complete. It means I got to you, and even if this is a sad story, I'm happy. So, please, share your thoughts. Bring the smile back on my face.


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